Snap Kitchen Keeps Invading Dallas

Snap Kitchen has been slowly invading Dallas since this summer, opening its first location in Uptown and then opening three more around the city since. Another location is planned for Fitzhugh. The latest location to open is on the corner of Preston and Royal, in the same shopping center and Royal China and the new TJ's location.

It's an interesting concept. From the outside it looks a lot like a 7-Eleven. There are open coolers with trays of food at the ready and other coolers with plenty of drinks. There's a microwave. You could almost see yourself dropping in for sixer of Budweiser and a pack of Marlboro Golds, but there's none of that sort of thing around here. Snap is all about making you better, not making you worse.

Those plastic trays in the cooler make up the bulk of Snap's offering. They line the wall in orange, green (the primary colors in the 7-Eleven logo) and black colors denoting small medium and large. So many choices your head will spin. There are breakfast, lunch and dinner trays and each come with different carbohydrate and protein loads. Gluten intolerant folks rejoice: Everything is gluten free.

There's also a thorough documentation of ingredients and nutritional information on every package, which can aid in decision making.

The next day I tried the bison and quinoa hash (310 calories, 11 grams of fat), which is a blend of the two aforementioned ingredients with red kidney beans, onions and enough spices to lend some heat. It ate like health food, with a dry texture and a lack of body, but it was better than most of the pre-packaged meals you can buy at the grocery store by a mile.

They also have juices (of course!) and while they don't come in Big Gulp sizes, they do come in a number of varieties. I tried the green juice. It's missing the ginger and or lemon that could really lend the rather muddy juice some zip, but if you're already there and you find yourself in need of some liquified produce, it's a good bet.

Go forth to Snap, and be healthy. Or, you know, go to the grocery store and cook for yourself.